Teething problems over, I'm ready for new challenges, says Chavan

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Tuesday that he delayed certain decisions in the past year because he needed more time to understand the intricacies involved and he did not want to be scrutinised under the Right To Information (RTI) Act for taking any arbitrary decision.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Tuesday that he delayed certain decisions in the past year because he needed more time to understand the intricacies involved and he did not want to be scrutinised under the Right To Information (RTI) Act for taking any arbitrary decision.

Chavan will complete one year in office next month. Over the period, his party workers have accused him of political incompetence and administrative lethargy.

Dismissing the accusations while talking to the media at his official residence on Tuesday, Chavan said he had faced some "teething problems" but was now ready to take on new challenges and serve the state better.

"People with vested interests say that I do not take decisions or delay them inordinately. Please understand that my approach in doing everything is cautious. I don't decide unless I am completely convinced," the chief minister said.

Chavan said the RTI prevented bureaucrats from taking any wrong decisions. "Nobody is willing to take decisions at their level. Either they [bureaucrats] give negative remarks on the proposal or just reject it."

Talking about how an RTI query to the prime minister's office (where he worked as minister of state before the current assignment) in the 2G spectrum scam had hounded him, Chavan said, "Many things were said though I was not responsible in any way."

Chavan said he had his priorities set for the coming years. "I want to push further pending policy decisions. No government is expected to take new decision every day. What matters to me is implementing the policy in effective ways."

When asked, Chavan said he delayed granting extra floor space index (FSI) for Mumbai's suburbs because he was not convinced whether the provision would put extra burden on existing infrastructure. "But the civic authorities said it wouldn't create any problem because we were already granting extra FSI in certain cases," he explained.